Question

Soft-Soap to try to persuade by flattery or gentle urging

Accepted Answer

Maura thought that if she soft-soaped the teacher, he'd cancel the test. This phrase comes from the first half of the 1800s when an imaginative writer saw a figurative similarity between slithery, slippery soft soap and insincere flattery and coaxing. Trying to get people to do what you want by sweet-talking them is like coating them with soft, smooth soap. A related expression is to "butter someone up" (see page 23).

Idiom	Soft-Soap
Example	Maura thought that if she soft-soaped the teacher, he'd cancel the test.
Meaning	to try to persuade by flattery or gentle urging
Origin	This phrase comes from the first half of the 1800s when an imaginative writer saw a figurative similarity between slithery, slippery soft soap and insincere flattery and coaxing. Trying to get people to do what you want by sweet-talking them is like coating them with soft, smooth soap. A related expression is to "butter someone up" (see page 23).

Flattery Soft Soap Maura Thought Soft Soaped Teacher He'd Cancel